Aubrey Plaza

Celebrities are so often given free handouts -- designer clothing, courtside seats to the Lakers -- that it's hard to imagine a star being excited by the prospect of free butterfly shrimp. But “Parks and Recreation” regular Aubrey Plaza insists she was overjoyed to be consuming said fried food as the face of Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, though she wasn't yet a star. “I remember a moment where I was eating a bunch of butterfly shrimp and getting paid a lot of money to do that" during a Popeyes commercial, the actress recalled during the Los Angeles Times' third annual Young Hollywood roundtable on Friday night.

Straight hipster boys, envy L.A. singer-songwriter Ben Cassorla, because he just lived out your wildest dream date in his new music video for the single " Bona Fide . " Cassorla is a seasoned session hand, having played with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and drummer Ben Riley (who was part of Thelonius Monk's band), and he uses junky vintage gear to craft an expertly screwball indie-pop sound. But for this tune, released under his solo project Cassorla, he got "Parks & Recreation" star Aubrey Plaza out for a sax-besodden afternoon in Echo Park.

The MTV Movie Awards has cultivated a reputation for being one of those "anything can happen" awards shows, and on Sunday night, the incident that everyone was talking about was Aubrey Plaza's attempted "Kanye-ing" of Will Ferrell. Ferrell was on stage to accept the award for comedic genius when Plaza, known to most people as April from the NBC comedy "Parks and Recreation," appeared next to him, drink in hand, and attempted to wrest the golden popcorn from his grasp. Ferrell appeared confused, didn't let go of the award and asked, "What is happening?

Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes Click here to download TV listings for the week of August 11 - 17, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies SERIES Motive Flynn and Vega's (Kristin Lehman, Louis Ferreira) investigation of a controversial priest's murder leads them to an organized-crime underworld. Lauren Holly also stars in this new episode. 9 p.m. ABC Project Runway In this new episode, the designers are divided into small teams to come up with small collections from a bunch of items from four very different retailers.

Maybe Aubrey Plaza is on to something with her crazy stunts - the MTV Movie Awards she spectacularly crashed Sunday posted big ratings gains. The "Parks & Recreation" costar was supposedly tossed from the premises after coming onstage unannounced and trying to grab an award from actor Will Ferrell. But the audience apparently didn't mind: An average of 3.8-million total viewers tuned in, according to Nielsen. That was up 11% compared with last year's show. In MTV's core demographic of adults aged 18 to 34, the show did even better, zooming 45%. Critics often focus on the ribald banter at the show, but PR stunts are maybe just as notable a feature.

In the R-rated comedy “The To Do List,” a chaste high school senior embarks on a quest to experience her “first time” before heading off to college. Lead actress Aubrey Plaza had to face her own daunting first in making the movie, which is out Friday: Performing sexual acts in public. Most scenes -- like the one in which her character Brandy Klark performs fellatio on a musician played by Andy Samberg -- required Plaza to fake it. But when it came time for Brandy to pleasure herself, writer-director Maggie Carey asked the actress to make the moment as genuine as possible.

Here are five rising stars of the alt-comedy scene. Aziz Ansari Ansari started doing stand-up while still a business student at New York University. He and veteran Upright Citizens Brigade New York regulars Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel in 2005 formed the sketch group Human Giant, which debuted as an MTV series in 2007. This year, Ansari appears in Judd Apatow's "Funny People" and costars in UCB founder Amy Poehler's NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation." Next year, he'll costar in Apatow Productions' summer release "Get Him to the Greek," with Jonah Hill and Russell Brand.

It was just about this time last summer when life changed in a big way for Aubrey Plaza, who can currently be seen as Seth Rogen's love interest in the new Judd Apatow film "Funny People." She had come to Los Angeles from New York for a final audition for her role in the Apatow film and in short order also landed a part in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" -- the next film from "Hot Fuzz" director Edgar Wright -- as well as a supporting role as a blase intern on the NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation."

March 28, 2012 | By Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times Television Critic

There are many reasons to watch NBC's marvelously funny "Parks and Recreation," but at this point I only need one: Ron Swanson. Swanson is played by Nick Offerman, an actor blessed with a deeply melodious voice and wickedly expressive eyebrows who has mastered, if not invented, the art of over-the-top understatement. But Swanson is a sum of several parts - an exquisite creation of Offerman's talent, but also of writing and directing, of hair, makeup and wardrobe. And I love him with all my heart.

Actors often do their best not to seem intimidated by other actors. But sometimes you just can't help being starstruck. Just ask Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who was so nervous around her "A Good Day to Die Hard" costar Bruce Willis that she barely interacted with him on the set of the upcoming action flick. “He's just such a big movie star. During that entire movie shoot I was, like, silent,” said Winstead, who joined Aubrey Plaza and Bella Heathcote on the Los Angeles Times' third-annual Young Hollywood roundtable Friday.

Maggie Carey envisioned her feature directorial debut as a dirty “Sixteen Candles. " Think Molly Ringwald's Samantha Baker looking to lose her virginity rather than get the guy. What she ended up with is “The To Do List,” a low-budget romp centering on the overachieving Brandy Klark, played by Aubrey Plaza, who devotes the same fastidiousness that nabbed her the valedictorian slot at her high school to shedding her prudish ways before she...

You can count on summer movies for one sure thing - a teenager will fumble through his or her first sexual experience. On-screen, I mean. Because so many boys have done it so boldly, reveling in their risky business and risqué language - a low bar set long ago by the likes of "American Pie" and "Porky's" - the girls were overdue for some score-settling. For that there is the new coming-of-age comedy "The To Do List. " PHOTOS: Summer Sneaks 2013 The film stars Aubrey Plaza as Brandy, the bookish valedictorian on a brash quest to experience all the unmentionables in the summer before college.

In the R-rated comedy “The To Do List,” a chaste high school senior embarks on a quest to experience her “first time” before heading off to college. Lead actress Aubrey Plaza had to face her own daunting first in making the movie, which is out Friday: Performing sexual acts in public. Most scenes -- like the one in which her character Brandy Klark performs fellatio on a musician played by Andy Samberg -- required Plaza to fake it. But when it came time for Brandy to pleasure herself, writer-director Maggie Carey asked the actress to make the moment as genuine as possible.

Maybe Aubrey Plaza is on to something with her crazy stunts: The MTV Movie Awards she spectacularly crashed Sunday posted big ratings gains. The "Parks & Recreation" costar was supposedly tossed from the premises after coming onstage unannounced and trying to grab an award from actor Will Ferrell. But the audience apparently didn't mind: An average of 3.8-million viewers tuned in, according to Nielsen. That was up 11% compared with last year's show. In MTV's core demographic of viewers ages 18 to 34, the show did even better, zooming 45%. - Scott Collins 'Breakfast' nears a Broadway end In the wake of largely negative reviews and falling box-office receipts, the Broadway production of "Breakfast at Tiffany's," starring "Game of Thrones" actress Emilia Clarke, will close on Sunday after a four-week run at New York's Cort Theatre.

The MTV Movie Awards has cultivated a reputation for being one of those "anything can happen" awards shows, and on Sunday night, the incident that everyone was talking about was Aubrey Plaza's attempted "Kanye-ing" of Will Ferrell. Ferrell was on stage to accept the award for comedic genius when Plaza, known to most people as April from the NBC comedy "Parks and Recreation," appeared next to him, drink in hand, and attempted to wrest the golden popcorn from his grasp. Ferrell appeared confused, didn't let go of the award and asked, "What is happening?

Maybe Aubrey Plaza is on to something with her crazy stunts - the MTV Movie Awards she spectacularly crashed Sunday posted big ratings gains. The "Parks & Recreation" costar was supposedly tossed from the premises after coming onstage unannounced and trying to grab an award from actor Will Ferrell. But the audience apparently didn't mind: An average of 3.8-million total viewers tuned in, according to Nielsen. That was up 11% compared with last year's show. In MTV's core demographic of adults aged 18 to 34, the show did even better, zooming 45%. Critics often focus on the ribald banter at the show, but PR stunts are maybe just as notable a feature.

Maggie Carey envisioned her feature directorial debut as a dirty “Sixteen Candles. " Think Molly Ringwald's Samantha Baker looking to lose her virginity rather than get the guy. What she ended up with is “The To Do List,” a low-budget romp centering on the overachieving Brandy Klark, played by Aubrey Plaza, who devotes the same fastidiousness that nabbed her the valedictorian slot at her high school to shedding her prudish ways before she...

Actors often do their best not to seem intimidated by other actors. But sometimes you just can't help being starstruck. Just ask Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who was so nervous around her "A Good Day to Die Hard" costar Bruce Willis that she barely interacted with him on the set of the upcoming action flick. “He's just such a big movie star. During that entire movie shoot I was, like, silent,” said Winstead, who joined Aubrey Plaza and Bella Heathcote on the Los Angeles Times' third-annual Young Hollywood roundtable Friday.